Makeup blowout

Sturgis’ defense pitched a shutout in the second quarter and the offense got rolling in the third quarter as the Trojans raced passed Marshall, 53-33, Wednesday night in SMAC East play.

“You can’t do much better than holding a team scoreless,” Sturgis coach Keith Kurowski said of his team’s play in the second quarter.” I was pleased with the effort that they displayed in the second quarter.”

The Trojans trailed 14-9 after one quarter.

“I think we came out and played a little too aggressive on the ball and we weren’t as smart defensively in the early going,” Kurowski said. “We didn’t take the proper angles, we didn’t do a good job containing the dribble and we gave up a lot of points off of penetration and second-chance points, we missed some blockouts.”

Kurowski felt it was not a physical problem for his team.

“The physical part was there, but not the mental part,” he said. “We just had a few breakdowns in the first quarter, that led to buckets for them.”

By halftime, they had turned it into a 22-14 lead.

“We settled down, we switched up defenses a little bit in the second quarter, we went to more of a sagging man-to-man,” Kurowski said. “I call it the pack defense, where it’s just one guy on the ball and the other four are just packing it in the lane. I think that proved to be the difference in that second quarter, they were unable to drive the ball and get easy baskets.”

Sturgis (10-8, 7-7 league) struggled offensively early in the quarter until Jack Scheske hit a 3-pointer. Eduardo Portillo followed with a pair of free throws to tie the game, then Scheske hit another from behind the arc to put the Trojans ahead, 17-14, with just over two minutes left before halftime.

“I knew we were going to have to handle their 2-3 zone, it’s one of better zones in the conference,” Kurowski said. “I instructed our guards to really try to attack the gaps, make the extra pass and when you have the open shot, shoot it with confidence. And we hit some shots tonight. I told Patrick and Jack that they’d get some open looks against their zone and they hit some big shots for us that eventually broke the game open.”

In the third quarter, a couple of triples by Jalen Cox helped Sturgis to double up the RedHawks, 32-16, and the Trojans pushed the lead to 39-17 after a trey by Patrick Haas. Tyler Bennett picked up assists on all three makes as the Trojans broke the RedHawk press.

“That played into our hands a little bit,” Kurowski said. “I talked about getting easy baskets, pushing the ball and not having to set up in the halfcourt. We did a solid job of breaking pressure in the second half and we had a lot of buckets in transition, which was something we wanted to do.”

Marshall (11-8, 6-8) closed the score to 17 points after a three-point play by Tony Wimberly, but Chance Stewart answered with a layup off a feed from Haas to give the Trojans a 43-24 lead after three quarters.

A three-point play by Stewart gave the Trojans their largest lead of the game, 51-28, with just over two minutes remaining in the game.

Stewart topped the Trojans with 17 points, Cox finished with 12, Haas threw in eight, Scheske and Portillo each tallied six and Carl Limburg and Nick Rehm each added two.

Wimberly led the RedHawks with 14 points, Danny Welke and Trevor Travis each added seven, Landry reynolds had three and Mitch Konkle had two.

Stewart collected 12 boards for Sturgis, while Haas had four. Portillo led with four blocks, while Stewart added three. The Trojans distributed the ball well with Bennett getting six assists, Haas added five and Stewart had four. Cox and Stewart each had three steals.

The battle back to .500 in league play was a long one for Sturgis.

“After a slow start, it’s a satisfying feeling,” Kurowski said. “We lost some heartbreakers early on, we stayed the course and the kids showed a lot of resiliency and commitment and I’m proud that they got to .500 in the conference, which clinches fourth. Fourth is a lot better than seventh or eighth. And we’re over .500 with our 10th win.”

The Trojans close their regular season with a home game against Bronson tonight and then play host Edwardsburg in district play Monday.

We’re playing our best basketball down the stretch, which is what you want as a player and coach as you head into the playoffs,” Kurowski said.